Tuesday, July 11, 2017

I Only Know What I Don't Know

When the eye becomes the heart, the heart becomes the eye. --Wasif Ali Wasif

Grace, the young protagonist in my upcoming novel THIS I KNOW could be described as clairvoyant, empathic, psychic or simply mischievous, depending on which character you ask. She senses things that have happened, intuits events that are about to occur, and enjoys deep conversations with her deceased twin. I like to think of myself as a balanced individual situated midway on the wide spectrum between woo-woo-hookey-doo and black-and-white certitude. As a veteran massage therapist and left-behind flower child living in California I definitely fit the New Age profile, but I don't necessarily subscribe to esoteric ideas steeped in seductive promises of self-actualization. I am, however, very curious about such things. So much so that intuition, telepathy, the afterlife, alternative medicine, and Eastern philosophy are recurrent themes woven into my stories.

Like young Grace, I was raised in a conservative Christian family. And also like her, I began to question everything I'd been taught as I came of age. Over time my spiritual beliefs have evolved significantly. More than once in my life I've experienced a supernatural event that I couldn't completely defend with logic and reason. One that stands out occurred when I attended massage school. The students were taking turns practicing techniques on each other. I called the the instructor over because I was concerned about a young girl crying a couple of tables away from my massage partner and me. I couldn't understand why this child was in our classroom. The instructor was incredulous, "That's not a girl; don't you recognize Barbara?" The "girl" I saw was a fifty-year-old classmate. I later learned that her massage had apparently triggered repressed memories of abuse from her childhood.

Maybe the room was dark and I imagined I saw a child. Maybe the pitiful sobs made her look like a little girl. Or maybe there's no logical explanation for why I saw a child in the face of a woman remembering abuse by her father when she was only twelve. I've had other inexplicable experiences as maybe some of you have. Is it wild imagination that drives these stories? Or could it be that there are some things we just can't understand? I don't have all the answers, but I really enjoy exploring them through the lens of my characters. I hope you will too. #ThisIKnow

***MARK YOUR CALENDAR!*** Timed to coincide with National Sister's Day, August 6, 2017 is the COVER REVEAL date for my debut novel THIS I KNOW (Spring/2018). Follow me on Facebook to be one of the first to see this stunning depiction of my precocious young Grace Carter in all her glory.

From the publisher: "Set in a small Midwest town in the late 1960s and helmed by an unforgettable young protagonist—compassionate, uncannily wise Grace—This I Know is a luminous coming-of-age story from an astonishing new voice."

Advance Praise for Eldonna Edwards and This I Know

“Simply magical writing. Eldonna Edwards is a true storyteller. She tossed me straight into her book and there I stayed until the last word on the last page.” --Cathy Lamb, author of No Place I’d Rather Be

"In THIS I KNOW, Eldonna Edwards has crafted a compelling allegorical tale about the fear of otherness in this coming-of-age tale set in the late 1960's and early 1970's in midwestern America. Readers of all ages will find an unlikely hero in 11-year-old Grace Marie Carter, who was born with a type of clairvoyance she calls the "Knowing" - as she bravely forges her own path in a world that is constantly trying to silence her voice." --Amy Impellizzeri, Award-winning Author ofSecrets of Worry DollsandThe Truth About Thea